Shoalhaven City Council has donated $2,500 to a group to help them with opening an independent non-religious primary school in Berry.
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The Green Mountain School for Rudolf Steiner Education will be a secular school and will teach holistic nature-based learning.
The money was given to the board of Green Mountain School, a group of professionals, academics, educators and parents hoping to open Shoalhaven's first independent school.
The council's contribution will be used to renew the company's registration with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and cover marketing costs. The organisation is also a registered charity.
The Green Mountain School was in the process of submitting a Site Specific Development Application (SSDA) estimated to cost between $30,000 and $50,000, in order to apply to the NSW Education Standards Board.
Mayor Amanda Findley, councillors John Wells, Kaye Gartner, Nina Digiglio, Annette Alldrick, John Levett and Mark Kitchener voted in favour of the motion at the Ordinary Meeting on Tuesday, July 27.
Similar independent schools exist in Canberra, Port Macquarie, Bega and Wollongong, and over 100 parents have registered their interest in joining the school.
The primary school hopes to open in 2023 with about 35 children across kindergarten and years 1 and 2 and aims to expand from there.
The council was joined by Green Mountain School board members Rachel Ross and Tonia Gray who spoke on the benefits of a Shoalhaven independent secular school.
In her deputation, Ms Ross said the school will expand on the traditional three Rs of reading, writing and arithmetic to include the seven Rs of resilience, relationships, respect and reflection.
The deputation was supported by Greens councillor Kaye Gartner who said the COVID situation had impacted on the school's ability to get off the ground.
"The COVID situation has really impacted the ability of many organisations to do their normal fundraising and this leaves the Green Mountain School in a position where they need the funds to comply with their company and charity registrations so that they can continue their journey of bringing an independent school to the Shoalhaven community," she said.
"As was mentioned in the deputation, young families are one of the drivers of growth in our community."
Labor councillor Annette Alldrick said education diversity was crucial for the Shoalhaven.
"We need as much diversity of education for our children as we have diversity in children in our community," she said.
Councillor Andrew Guile supported independent schooling but said the normal process was to wait for schools to have their development applications approved before supporting them financially.
"I think we should assure these applicants that there will be significant financial support from council in remitting [development application] fees ... once they've had their DAs passed, once they've got their construction certificates, once they've got the schools established," he said.
"Until that time, I can't support the applications before us."